Text One – Missing in Action

Positive
_ Anecdotal / story telling: more
relevant.
_ 1st person / direct voice:
interesting, engaging. People like
to read about what has happened
to others and how they felt.
_ Vivid and engaged descriptions:
readers feel that they are ‘there’.
_ Appeals to experiences which
many people have had: the ‘I
know what they mean’ response.
_ Dialogue gives a realistic touch.
_ An arresting opening / first
sentence: engages the reader’s
attention.
_ Horror stories: other people’s
misfortunes are always
interesting.
_ Moral of story left until the end:
not preaching at the reader.
Negative
_ Rambling style: anecdote not
appropriate for an issue as
serious as this.
_ As a piece of advice, not very
effective: needs instructions, what
to do and where to go.
_ Rather limited information, dealing
with just one possible area of
concern, i.e. theft of wallet, credit
cards, cash. Stodgy layout, with
some long, dense paragraphs.
_ Not reassuring for someone
planning to go on holiday: might
panic readers into think that they
are going to be robbed.

Text Two – Think Like a Criminal

Positive Negative
_ Precise instructions interspersed
with short anecdotes: more _ 3rd person / objective voice: rather
meaningful and, perhaps, dull, maybe even pompous or
memorable. hectoring.
_ Reassuring tone in these _ The range of possible thefts and
instructions. ways of being robbed is alarming:
_ Less of an article and more of an might be off-putting for the
instructional piece. sensitive traveller.
_ 3rd person / objective tone gives _ A lot of information to take in.
clear and unambiguous
information.
_ A range of information is given
about different modes of theft.
_ Some memorable examples given
in short, pithy sentences.
_ Layout, with subheadings, allows
reader to focus on parts of the
article rather than read all of it.